A folk-rock group comparable to Leda & Spyros.
| 1 | AGAPANTHOS | 1976 | COLUMBIA 2J062-70800 |
Stavros Logarides had recorded two albums with Poll while Tasoulis had previously played in Despina Glezou's backing group. Nothing of their past can be compared to Akritas. Their album is among the top 3 from Greece, a tremendous concoction of complex progressive rock, forming a concept album of the same grandeur as Aphrodite's Child's 666 (indeed or De De Lind's Io Non So Da Dove Vengo). This is music of great ambition with myriads of changes in rhythms and textures much like the best works of Gentle Giant, Frank Zappa and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
| 1 | AKRITAS | 1973 | POLYDOR 2421 031 |
As most of you will know, Aphrodite's Child are one of the few internationally known Greek groups, who enjoyed late sixties pop hits like "End Of The World", "Rain And Tears", "I Want To Live" and "It's Five O'Clock". Pop music from the late 60's rarely sounded better than this, but in addition the group also made excellent tracks that were a unique brand of psychedelic and/or progressive rock, such as The Grass Is No Green", "Let Me Love, Let Me Live", "Magic Mirror", "You Always Stand In My Way" and "Don't Try To Catch A River". Most of their own compositions were written by multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer and composer Vangelis Papathanassiou, whose (first name) would soon be famous. Before then, in 1971-72, he wrote one of the best concept albums ever, 666, based on the Apocalypse of St. John with the libretto written by Costas Ferris (he also wrote the libretto to Kostas Tournas' first solo album). The music is a concoction of progressive rock, ancient Greek folk music, beat, plain pop, psychedelia, spoken parts, narration and the idiosyncratic instrumental music of Vangelis himself. "The Four Horsemen" is the central piece of the album, displaying Demis Roussos at his very best, singing an unforgettable refrain before Koulouris whips out a fantastic heavy-psych guitar solo. A long suite of interconnected melodic segments follow (most of which are instrumental), before the beast is captured in Irene Papa's character, uttering her obscene groans on "∞" (Mercury vetoed the release due to this track but the parent company Phonogram eventually released it on Vertigo). The 19-minute "All The Seats Were Occupied" is an instrumental with psychedelic flashbacks recapturing past happenings and songs. This is the only part of the album that isn't entirely satisfying. This album is among the best and most original European albums of the 70's. Several Greek artists later made impressive grand scale concept albums but arguably none surpassed this milestone!
Regarding additional material, compilations have been released with Forminx and The Idols. Vangelis' and Roussos' respective groups prior to Aprodite's Child. The later solo albums One Day by Sideras and On The Greek Side Of My Mind by Roussos are also recommended.
| 1 | END OF THE WORLD | 1969 | MERCURY 138 350 (F) |
| 2 | IT'S 5 O'CLOCK | 1970 | MERCURY 138 351 (F) |
| 3 | 666 (2LP) | 1972 | VERTIGO 6673 001 (F) |
| 1 | ONE DAY | 1972 | POLYDOR 2393 039 (F) |
| 2 | PAX SPRAY | 1975 | RCA TRL1-1081 (I) |
| 1 | ON THE GREEK SIDE OF MY MIND | 1972 | PHILIPS 6332 032 (F) |
Their first album was notable in the symphonic rock genre influenced by Genesis. They had a powerful (operatic) vocalist and staged theatrical live shows with masks and visual effects. Their first effort was best, as No moved towards conventional soft-rock.
| 1 | APOCALYPSIS | 1980 | MINOS MSM 385 |
| 2 | NO | 1982 | MINOS MSM |
Song-based progressive rock with guitar, organ and some tasteful orchestrations. Their second album is reputed to be their best.
| 1 | POLA | 1974 | PAN-VOX X33SPV10176 |
| 2 | O SIDERENIOS ANTHROPOS | 1975 | PAN VOX X33SPV10181 |
Axis united musicians from late sixties groups, among them Juniors and We Five. Like Aphrodite's Child they were based in Paris for some time. In the beginning, Axis played archetypical heavy progressive rock with great organ and electric guitars. Be aware that the 1971 and 1972 releases essentially are the same album (see discography comments)! Their classic 1973 album marked a considerable change of direction - an advanced kind of jazz-rock with a lot of improvisation. A couple of tracks were even in line with the British mellotron-rock tradition (King Crimson, Gracious and Spring).
| 1A | AXIS (l) | 1971 | RIVIERA 521 162 (F) |
| 1B | ELA ELA | 1972 | RIVIERA 521 192 (F) |
| 2 | AXIS (II) | 1973 | RIVIERA 421 086 (F) |
Blue Birds made an extremely rare album reputedly containing some good psychedelic folk-rock.
| 1 | BLUE BIROS | 1972 | POLVDOR 2421 020 |
Underground folk-rock with guitar, flute, vibraphone, male and female vocals. Still unknown by most collectors.
| 1 | WE BURNED OUR BOATS | 1977 | COLUMBIA |
These are two bands forever connected, due to the release of a 1981 split album. Both groups were from Thessaloniki. Delta played progressive rock (but were also influenced by the late 60's US West Coast groups), while Mauve made pure heavy rock similar to early Wishbone Ash and Led Zeppelin.
| 1 | DELTA / MAUVE | 1981 | PAN VOX X33SPV10237 |
A female singer who played jazzy variety songs. Her albums are sometimes offered by record dealers as ''underground rock"!
| 1 | ELENA | 1970 | OLYMPIC 1067 |
| 2 | ISTORIA AGAPIS | 1971 | OLYMPIC 1072 |
Their Greek name was Ta Tessera Epipeda Tis Yparxis, but they are better known among collectors by this translated name. Very few copies were originally made of this album and they now change hands for incredible prices (more than 1,000 Euro). Obviously influenced by the first Socrates-album, the group aimed for the ultimate fuzz guitar overkill with Grachaz in charge of the axe (not surpassing the Yugoslavian group Fire, though), backed by a more melodic second electric guitar. There are ten tracks in all., with the usual rock chord progressions. In fact, the album bores me after 3-4 tracks due to the lack of variety and excessive vulgarity. Check out the re-issue if you care for fuzz guitar orgies.
| 1 | FOUR LEVELS OF EXISTENCE | 1976 | VENUS 1013 |
Both albums are reputed to contain great electric folk-rock, but I can't verify this.
ALBUM AS G. THANASSIS & ANAKARA:
| 1 | AUTOSTOP | 1971 | ZODIAC 88020 |
| 2 | ATELIOTI EKTHROMI | 1975 | MINOS MSM 251 |
Ionatos lived in Liège in Belgium at the time he made a limited pressing of 200 copies of this album. It comprises quiet and serious folk songs, often with vocals and only acoustic guitar. Translated French lyrics were printed on the cover, although Photis Ionatos sang in the Greek language.
| 1 | CHANTE KAVAFIS ELYTIS RITSOS | 1979 | PRIVATE PRESS (8) |
Iraklis formed a band named Lerneia Hydra in 1973. They recorded a couple of singles and also provided some of the backing for his ambitious double concept album Se Allous Kosmouts (1976), a vast project involving 80 instruments, 23 musicians, 7 lead singers, orchestral-ion and a choir. Most of it is close to progressive folk music with pompous production, comparable to Kostas Tournas and Trojan War. Some parts arc a little too trivial (approaching easy listening), other parts are more impressive with a rich array of folk music instruments. The single LP version is stripped of several instrumentais and individual tracks were edited.
| 1A | SE ALLOUS KOSMOUS (2LP) | 1976 | EMI 2J062 70256/7 |
| 1B | SE ALLOUS KOSMOUS (1LP) | 1988 | EMI |
| 2 | PEZIS ME TI | 1981 | PRIVATE PRESS |
| 3 | I STIGMI | 1983 | PRIVATE PRESS |
This is the Sandy Denny of Greek folk music (although her father was a German). She had a superb voice. Her albums will enthrall you with the exotic delights of Greek folklore. Not only that, there are also elements of free jazz, mediaeval music and progressive rock. This applies particularly to Mia Sto Karfi (1973) and Dio Zygies Paignidia (1974), her best albums. On the first of these, she was helped by Giorgos Stefanakis (the keyboard-player of Peloma Bokiou), Giorgos Filippidis (the guitar player of Iraklis) and Giorgos Trandalides (the drummer of Socrates). Mariza Koch has also participated in the European song contest (but don't hold that against her).
| 1 | ARABAS | 1972 | MINOS MSM 139 |
| 2 | MIA STO KARFI | 1973 | MINOS MSM 177 |
| 3 | DIO ZYGIES PAIGNIDIA | 1974 | MINOS MSM 226 |
| 4 | PANAGIA MOU | 1977 | MINOS MSM 269 |
| 5 | O KATHREPTIS | 1960 | MINOS |
A duo who mixed traditional Greek and British folk-rock elements with very satisfactory results. The second album also contained some nicely orchestrated tracks.
| 1 | ILECTRIKOS APOSPERITIS | 1972 | PHILIPS 6331 042 |
| 2 | HAMENO TIPOTA DEN PAI | 1974 | PHILIPS ? |
After some years of silence, the leader of Akritas resurfaced with a solo album, assisted by musicians from Akritas, Iraklis, Socrates and Hexadactylus. While this album is not up to the standard of Akritas, it still contains many quite good moments and excellent musicanship. This is more commercial and song-based with Logardes's high-pitched voice to the fore - some tracks are bland and some are excellent. Lyrics are sung in both Greek and English.
| 1 | STAVROS LOGARIDES | 1978 | POLYDOR 2421 122 |
| 2 | SE ALLI GI | 1980 | POLYDOR 2421 136 |
An Eastern folk album sometimes similar to Mariza Koch, of which only 500 copies were released. A rare album!
| 1 | TIMES OF SPRING | 1981 | PRIVATE PRESS |
Dorian Kokas and John Jungemann formed the group Stone Deep in 1970, comprising American Community School students. When the students returned home, Kokas then formed Morka with Mike Maraitis. Polydor released an EP in 1971 with two (racks each from these groups. In 1972, another single was released before Morka recorded seven tracks for demo purposes. These failed to generate interest from the record companies and the group disbanded. In 1997, an album including all 13 tracks was eventually released. This is beautiful hippie folk-rock with four-part vocal harmonies.
| 1 | THERE WAS A TIME..(1971-72) | 1997 | MYTHOS 0001 |
This band played pleasant Greek folk-rock featuring a great variety of instruments from track to track, including harp, flutes, brass, piano, fiddle, organ, electric and acoustic guitars and a rhythm section. Still the most outstanding elements arc the magnificent female and male vocals (solo, alternative turns or three-part harmonies). Despina Glezou had a track on Live At Kyttaro (1971), but she recorded far better material on this little gem, which has some common ground with the folk-rock acts on the Spanish Movieplay label.
| 1 | NOSTRADAMOS | 1972 | ZODIAC 88032 |
| A1 | KENOURGIA MERA | 1975 | LYRA 3281 |
The day of wrath seemed to be the ideal concept to wrap an album around in Greece, hence Aphrodite's Child's 666 in 1972 and PLJ Band's Armageddon almost ten years later. This album has style - from the evil-looking sleeve to the dark, brooding synthesizers behind dramatic recitations from the Revelation of St. John and Ezekiel's prophecies. The guitar parts have some similarities to Pink Floyd at the time of Wish You Were Here (such as on the truly great 5-minute instrumental overture at the beginning). Interestingly, the use of synthesizers show similarities with Vangelis at the time of Heaven And Hell (mostly the hell-side). Nevertheless, this is among the Greek classics, although not one of the best. Termites (1983) was quite a different story. It contained pleasant, easily accessible folk-rock with much use of acoustic guitars, piano and rhythm section. The songs are not too bad with occasional scorching lead guitars. This formula proved to be quite successful in Greece and the group released more albums (of the bland type) under the name Termites.
| 1 | ARMAGEDDON | 1981 | VERTIGO 812 701 |
| 2 | TERMITES | 1983 | VERTIGO 812 702 |
A short-lived underground band that released one album and four singles. Nikos Daperis had previously played in Bourbolia. Their album contained ten tracks with archetypical melodious heavy progressive rock fronted by guitar and organ. The Greek vocals (easy on the ear) arc often treated with studio effects. Due to the heavy organ playing, they are sometimes comparable to early Atomic Rooster, although more exotic and eclectic. Surely among the classic Greek albums from the era.
| 1 | PELOMA BOKIU | 1972 | LYRA 3025 |
| A1 | EPIKINDINI ISOROPIA | 1976 | LYRA 3292 |
Vassilis Dertilis and Yannis Palamidas of Apocalypsis were involved in this project of Pete Tsiros at one stage, but not at the time of Days Of Destruction (1981). This is quite a good soft-progressive effort, capturing the refined poetical mood of early Barclay James Harvest, Cressida, Gentle Giant and Genesis. There is an equal balance between electric guitars and keyboards (mainly synthesizer and organ). This is superior to almost any 80's album of the genre I've heard (and has nothing to do with the neo-progressive movement). All lyrics were sung in English. Their debut album Suffering Of Tomorrow is reputed to be even better, but only a few hundred copies were pressed, making it almost impossible to find.
| 1 | SUFFERING OF TOMORROW | 1980 | OKTONKOS OHS 1672 |
| 2 | DAYS OF DESTRUCTION | 1981 | OCEAN 1000 |
This group had some commercial success in Greece with their melodic hippie folk-rock full of acoustic guitars, bongos and vocal harmonies. Their first album Anphrope (recorded as a quintet with an unidentified female vocalist) was the best of the two with some tasty fuzz guitars, bouzouki and sitar. While this came out in a sleeve made out of sacking, their second included 12 pages of comics with Poll-members starring as super heroes.
| 1 | ANPHROPE | 1972 | POLYDOR 2421 011 |
| 2 | POLL | 1972 | POLYDOR 2421 025 |
Poulikakos was the leader of MGC, a late sixties group who played heavy blues-rock, featuring cover versions of "Foxy Lady" and "Sitting On Top Of The World". From 1966 to 1968 they released three singles before calling it a day. Poulikakos soon resurfaced with another group, the legendary Hexadactylus, influenced by The Mothers Of Invention and experimental jazz-rock. The band only released two singles, but also contributed to Live At Kyttaro (all in 1971). The whole of Hexadactylus was present on Metaforat Ekdromai - O Mitsos (1976), but the album was credited to Poulikakos. This is considered one of the most important Greek records, with contributions from Vlassis Bonatsos (the singer of Peloma Bokiou), Nikos Tsilogiannis (of Bourboulia), John Spathas (the guitar-player of Socrates) and Pavlos Sidiropoulos (of Spyridoula).
The second album is a different story, as it contained versions of rock classics by The Rolling Stones, Kinks, Led Zeppelin. etc.
| 1 | METAFORAI, EKDROMAI O MITSOS | 1976 | EMI 2J062 70262 |
| 2 | STOU ZOGRAFOU | 1979 | MINOS MSM 363 |
His first albums contained folk ballads outside the scope of this book. However, in the seventies he recorded a stunning alburn named Two White Horses. Barring a couple of sticky folk ballads, this is a novelty to the world of psychedelic folk. You get the feeling that ancient Greek folk ballads are overthrown by heavy fuzz guitars and mutilated by Revolver-styled studio effects. The American Kaleidoscope hinted at vaguely similar ideas on "Egyptian Gardens", but were nothing near the turban psychedelia revolution of "I Giagia" (grannie)! On another track, the guitar player paraphrases the well-known "Eight Miles High" opening riff.
George Romanos moved temporarly to France after this, where he played with Axis. Dans Le Grenier (1974) included re-recordings of his songs with French lyrics.
RELEVANT ALBUMS:
| 1 | BALLADS | 1965 | PHILIPS 6301 14 |
| 2 | IN CONCERT & STUDIO | 1968 | ZODIAC 88006 |
| 3 | TWO WHITE HORSES | 1970 | ZODIAC 88010 |
| 4 | DANS LE GRENIER | 1974 | SONOPRESSE ST69628 (F) |
This was a "folk poet" in the French sense, but of course using elements from Greek folklore rather than French!: His debut album also revealed some influences from Bob Dylan.
On To Perivoli Tou Trelou (1969) he was starting to develop an idiosyncratic blend of traditional ballads, jazz, rock, rhythm and blues and folk music. He had a strong contribution to the Live At Kyttaro album. On this and several of his own seventies albums he was helped by the female vocalist Stella Gadedi. Ballos (1971) was arguably his best album, featuring the title track on one whole side. He also did a total remake of "All Along The Watchtower" (as original as the versions by Jimi Hendrix and XTC). Vromiko Psomi (1972) was another great album, although moving closer to Greek folk music.
After some years of relative inactivity, a collection of previously unreleased songs from the past ten years appeared in 1975.
| 1 | FORTIGO | 1966 | LYRA 3225 |
| 2 | TO PERIVOLI TOU TRELOU | 1969 | LYRA 3243 |
| 3 | BALLOS | 1971 | LYRA 3573 |
| 4 | VROMIKO PSOMI | 1972 | LYRA 3577 |
| 5 | DEKA CHRONIA KOMMATIA | 1975 | LYRA 3715 |
| 6 | HAPPY DAY | 1976 | LYRA |
| 7 | ACHARNES | 1977 | LYRA |
| 8 | REZERVA | 1979 | LYRA |
A folk poet also willing to use electric backing and some studio effects. He is not related to the Savopoulos above.
| 1 | TO DOMATIO | 1968 | POLYDOR 45 292 |
| 2 | EPISODIO | 1971 | POLYDOR 2421 009 |
Sidiropoulos was already a veteran of the Greek rock scene, forming the folk-oriented Damon & Fidias with Pantelis Deligiannidis in the late sixites. He later played with Bourboulia and then joined Spiridoula in 1977. Their album Flou (1979) is considered a classic by those who comprehend Greek, as the lyrics are full of social comment. The music might be described as rock'n'roll with hints of psychedelia. Sidiropoulos later made some solo albums.
ALBUM (UP TO 1980):
| 1 | FLOU | 1979 | HARVEST 14C062-70913 |
This was the best heavy progressive band to come out of Greece! Their first appearance on record was on Live At Kyttaro (1971), where they contributed a long track with lots of improvisation.
Socrates Drank The Conium (1972) was a strong debut album with John Spathas' ripping fuzz guitar omnipresent. He must have worked hard to get that particular bellowing sound with a close tape echo. "Live In The Country" and "Underground" are world class heavy psychedelia with more power than most of Cream's output.
Taste The Conium (1972) was moving against contemporary Southern hard-rock (The Allman Brothers and ZZ Top) on tracks such as "(Wild) Satisfaction" (13:00). The eight shorter tracks were more concise and effective, though.
On The Wings (1973) went for multi-tracked lead guitars and more aggressive vocals. This should be checked out by those who like the heavy guitar direction of Rory Gallagher and the early Johnny Winter!
Phos (1976) opened with a new version of "Starvation" from their first album. It was a new start with turned down amplifiers, a shortened group name and the addition of Vangelis on keyboards. This brought some refinement and a more melodic sound on tracks such as "Every Dream Comes To An End". Others had distinctive elements from Greek folk music, something totally absent from the first three albums. One gets the feeling a re-united Aphrodite's Child (with Koulouris on lead guitar) would have come close to this!
After some years of silence, Spathas and Tourkogioris relaunched Socrates, making three more albums of standard, fair-quality rock.
| 1 | SOCRATES DRANK THE CONIUM | 1972 | POLYDOR 2421 016 |
| 2 | TASTE THE CONIUM | 1972 | POLYDOR 2421 023 |
| 3 | ON THE WINGS | 1973 | POLYDOR 2421 030 |
| 4 | PHOS | 1976 | VERTIGO 6331 950 |
| 5 | WAITING FOR SOMETHING | 1980 | MINOS 372 |
| 6 | BREAKING THROUGH | 1981 | MINOS 416 |
| 7 | PLAZA | 1983 | MINOS |
A jazz-rock combo including some well-known players. Alexiou played in the sixties group Olympic, Filippidis in Hexadactylus and Trandalides in Socrates.
| 1 | SPHINX | 1979 | ACBA |
A pop-folk-rock singer backed by some famous Greek and French musicians on the first album, which was recorded in Paris. This is vaguely comparable to The Strawbs. Maran Atha was an instrumental album.
| 1 | BEAUTIFUL LIES | 1972 | PHILIPS 6325 008 (F) |
| 2 | LOOKING BACK | 1974 | SEVEN ARTS 33/7A IN-101 |
| 3 | MARAN ATHA | 1977 | SEAGULL 33/3E-77 |
His albums are so rare that only a few hard-core collectors know them. Both contain an exotic Eastern-tinged folk psychedelia and Bom Out Of The Tears Of The Sun had notable contributions from three members of Secondhand and Chillum: Hart, Elliott and O'Connor. Thomopoulos later became a film director.
| 1 | SONGS OF THE STREET | 1970 | MUSHROOM 100MR1 (UK) |
| 2 | BORN OUT OF THE TEARS OF THE SUN | 1971 | MUSHROOM 200MR11 (UK) |
Tournas had been the leader of Poll, a short-lived group that made two good electric folk rock albums in 1972. He revised some themes written for the second Poll album for Aperanta Choraphia (endless plains) - a major progressive folk-rock opus with no distinction into separate tracks. Kostas Tournas wrote and arranged it for a large orchestra and provided vocals, guitars and keyboards himself. The first minutes move dangerously close to easy listening with Burt Bacharach-like brass and strings, but it soon improves when drifting towards folk-rock during Tournas's relaxed vocals. Later parts visit progressive jazz-rock (with great electric guitar and organ solos) and even psychedelia in a kind of spiralling journey. This is a complex and highly rewarding work, which sounds better on each listening.
Regretably, Tournas didn't follow this ambitious direction on subsequent albums, which veered in a more pedestrian pop-rock direction.
| 1 | APERANTA CHORAPHIA | 1973 | POLYDOR 2421 027 |
| 2 | ASTRONEIRA | 1973 | POLYDOR 2421 033 |
| 3 | KYRIES KAI KYRIOI | 1974 | POLYDOR 2421 045 |
| 4 | LEFKA FTERA | 1975 | POLYDOR 2421 067 |
Another of the rock operas, this album had vocal contributions by several ex-members of Peloma Bokiou, Poll and Nostradamus. This is a symphonic work with much orchestration and shifting styles. Kostas Tournas did far better on his own conceptual solo albums. The music for Trojan War was written by Giannis Kozatzas and Giannis Petritous.
| 1 | TROJAN WAR | 1975 | PHILIPS 6331 079 |
In 1970 Vangelis Papathanassiou, who lived in Paris at the time, was comissioned to make the soundtrack to a soft porno film by Henry Chapier named Sex Power. Many key ingredients of Vangelis's music were already in place - the solemn themes (repeated a large number of times) played by piano, ongan or synthesizer, the wordless chanting, the rambling 'antique Greek' percussion and the use of sound effects. He played all instruments apart from a few acoustic guitars. This pointed the way forward to Earth, L'Apocalypse Des Animaux and eventually Heaven And Hell.
Fais Que Ton Reve Soit Plus Long Que La Nuit (1971) was a different story, a kind of sound montage dealing with the Paris student riots of May 1968. This French "Revolution Number 9" contained little of musical interest.
In the Marquee Studios in London, Vangelis recorded some interesting jazz-rock sessions, produced by Giorgio Gomelsky (noted manager for The Yardbirds and Magma) with Michel Ripoche (violin; of the group Zoo), Arghiris Koulouris (guitars, lute), Brian Odger (bass), Mick Waller (drums) and Tony Oxley (sax) during May and June 1971. The result was two albums released on the BYG-label. Dragon was arguably the best of them, with Arghelis Koulouris (of Aphrodite's Child) in a prominent role. This is recommended for those into French jazz-rock or the Canterbury scene.
From 1971 to 1973 Vangelis recorded some of his most memorable music at Europa Sonor Studios in Paris. This also included the penultimate Aphrodite's Child-album 666 (discussed in their entry), written, arranged and produced by Vangelis. Quite similar in spirit was Earth (1973), a powerful ode to our planet (the first of several such odes) recorded with Koulouris (once again) and Robert Fitoussi (vocals, bass). Fascinating tracks included "We Were All Uprooted", which evokes the ancient Greece and forgotten rituals. This had thunder and other voices of the Earth, narration by Warren Shapovitch, lute, bass and Vangelis himself on a massive percussion set-up.
L'Apocalypse Des Animaux (1973) and Entends-Tu Les Chiens Aboyer? (1974) displayed the softer sides of Vangelis with serene electric piano and synthesizer themes. This was the kind of music that would eventually make Vangelis rich and famous.
In 1975 he moved to London, acquired a lot of synthesizers and a big contract with RCA, enabling him to fit out his own Nemo Studio. He now started a more prosperous phase of his career, starting with Heaven And Hell. This was another of his greatest works, continuing in a direct line from Earth with musical treatments of the eternal philosophical questions and tribulations puzzling humankind. The parts augmented by the English Chamber Choir sound like a modern-day "Carmina Burana". The album also included "So Long Ago So Clear", his first collaboration with Jon Anderson in Yes (where Vangelis was offered the vacant keyboard spot).
Albedo .39 (1976) was another tribute to planet Earth, reflecting incoming light from the Sun back to space at a rate of 39%. Vangelis (playing absolutely everything) now relied on throbbing sequencers and easily accessible themes played by synthesizers (but he still used only acoustic percussion). "Alpha" and "Pulstar" had a strong appeal to those who had also discovered Jean-Michelle Jarre's Qxygene that year.
With the follow-up Spiral (1977) Vangelis gained his commercial break-through, although in hindsight the album seems a bit repetitive, with the same themes going on and on throughout the tracks.
In 1978 he was brave enough to release the far more experimental Beauborg, mostly based on unusual synthesizer doodlings. RCA also released a two year old soundtrack that year, La Fete Sauvage, in the same tradition as his earlier soundtracks, but also adding several fragments of African music (played by native Africans).
China (1979) was Vangelis' first album for Polydor. another of his better efforts with a surprise cameo role for Michel Ripoche on violin. The 10-minute track "Himalaya'' is brilliantly evocative of the mighty mountains. Vangelis also used fragments of Chinese music three years before Jarre did.
Needless to say, Vangelis became increasingly famous through the eighties with million sellers such as Chariots Of Fire.
ALBUMS (UP TO 1981):
| 1 | SEX POWER | 1970 | PHILIPS 6397 013 |
| 2 | FAIS QUE TON REVE SOIT PLUS LONG QUE LA NUIT | 1971 | REPRISE (F) |
| 3 | HYPOTHESIS | 1971 | BYG (F) |
| 4 | THE DRAGON | 1971 | BYG (F) |
| 5 | EARTH | 1973 | VERTIGO 6499 693 |
| 6 | L'APOCALYPSE DES ANIMAUX | 1973 | POLYDOR 2417 349 |
| 7 | ENTENDS-TU LES CHIENS ABOYER | 1974 | VAMPIR 21-500-14/2 (F) |
| 8 | HEAVEN AND HELL | 1975 | RCA 26.21605 AS |
| 9 | ALBEDO 0.39 | 1976 | RCA RS 1080 |
| 10 | SPIRAL | 1977 | RCA PL 25116 |
| 11 | BEAUBORG | 1978 | RCA PL 25155 |
| 12 | LA FETE SAUVAGE (1976) | 1978 | RCA PL 30036 |
| 13 | CHINA | 1979 | POLYDOR 2344 131 |
| 14 | OPÉRA SAUVAGE | 1979 | POLYDOR |
| 15 | SEE YOU LATER | 1980 | POLYDOR |
| 16 | CHARIOTS OF FIRE | 1981 | POLYDOR 2383 602 |
| A1 | FORMINX | 1976 | PAN-VOX X33SPV16171 |
A mediocre pop-rock group formed on the initiative of Lucas Sideras (ex-Aphrodite's Child).
| 1 | METRO MUSIC MAN | 1977 | PHILIPS 9101 145 (F) |
| . | LIVE AT KYTTARO | 1971 | LYRA 3023 |
| . | POP COCTAIL | 1972 | POLYDOR 2421 017 |
| . | POP FESTIVAL | 1973 | COLUMBIA SCXG 99 |
| . | ROCK TODAY | 1971 | MINERVA S22011 |